Former Biliran Rep. Glenn Chong will not be taking over Commissioner Rowena Guanzon’s post at the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Neither was Comelec director James Jimenez sacked as spokesperson, contrary to claims made in posts published by at least nine Facebook (FB) pages from Jan. 16 to 19.
The posts all bore the headline: “KAKAPASOK LANG SHOCKING! ATTY GLENN CHONG PAPALITAN NA SI ROWENA GUANZON JAMES JIMENEZ SIBAK COMELEC (Just in shocking! Atty. Glenn Chong to replace Rowena Guanzon James Jimenez axed Comelec).” They also carried either a 14-minute or a 16-minute excerpt from the Jan. 10 FB Live of the vlogger Maharlika.
The 78-minute livestream featured the blogger and Chong discussing issues about the Comelec, including the long-standing fraud allegations against the commission made by the former lawmaker. They also talked about the recent alleged hacking of the Comelec servers and the pending petitions challenging the candidacy of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in the May polls.
But nowhere in the video did Chong mention his supposed appointment as Comelec commissioner vice Guanzon, whose term expires on Feb. 2.
In a Jan. 25 press briefing, Jimenez dismissed the circulating claims as “false.”
Read the full story on VERA Files Fact Check.
